


An Early Vacation

by verymerrysioux



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 15:07:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20602811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verymerrysioux/pseuds/verymerrysioux
Summary: With Lorule stable and having no threat of falling apart, Ravio thinks about what he should do after. He never thought of a future beyond serving his princess, but his time in Hyrule gave him a taste of what it's like to live free of duty and need for survival.





	An Early Vacation

**Author's Note:**

> So this may be a start of a little series based on an idea from the [Linked Universe AU](https://linkeduniverse.tumblr.com/). An AU in an AU perhaps. Hopefully I'll make more in the future lmao.
> 
> No beta, I die like a Hyrule Warrior.

Lorule is better now. 

There's plants that have started to grow, lush and vibrant, lacking any malice or sickness that the withering weeds Lorule had. Day has the sun shining bright and the sky being an actual blue.

There are still monsters, there are still thieves and crazies; but there are no more earthquakes, no more unpredictable calamities, no more cracks and chasms to separate their kingdom further.

It's not Hyrule, it has scars and gaping wounds that may never fully heal. It may never be a perfect mirror image of that land.

But maybe it can be close to it. Maybe it could be better. A Lorule that Ravio could be proud of. Given time, given the chance.

They have that now.

What do the other countries look like now? Have they noticed the change? Have they realized the world is healing?

He wants to know, he wants to see.

But he buries those urges deep, covering it with reminders of duty and friendship. His kingdom is more important, his princess is more important. He's left her once, he won't do that again.

He won't abandon a friend ever again.

He's no hero, he never will be, but he's going to be a better friend. It's the least he can do.

So he stays. Helping Lorule recover. He shares what he learned in the time he was in Hyrule. The differences, the similarities, the reasons why they still had their Triforce.

"You've always been smarter than me," Hilda says with a gusty sigh. Shaking her head as Ravio stacks more of his notes, the entire table was littered with papers. "Here I am, completely lost on what to do now that we have a Triforce, and you already have plans."

"With no monsters and bandits, there wasn't much to do in Hyrule than walk around," he jokes. "The library was there, so why not?"

"Such a nerd!" She laughs, fond and happy. It warms his heart, he hasn't heard her carefree laugh for years. "I'm surprised you didn't just live there."

He grins. "I considered it, but there was much better profit staying at Link's house."

Bright laughter echoes the hallways.

* * *

Days turn to weeks turn to months. Ravio can barely recognize Lorule now.

It's amazing how much things can be done when nothing bad was happening to it. Rebuilding without the fear of it being destroyed, clearing monsters with the certainty that they'll never be revived again. 

_ Magic_, so much of it is in the air now. Clean, natural, energizing magic. Spells made everything so much faster. Magical items made things so much faster. 

Not to say it was any easy. People lost faith in the royal family, and to gain that trust would take years. Ravio can count the number of people who would truly follow Hilda on one hand.

Ravio understands their doubts. The family kept the Triforce, the source of all the wars; and they also destroyed it, the source of this world’s stability. Any good they did was overshadowed by the destruction and despair wrought upon how they treated the Triforce.

He understands, but that doesn’t mean he likes it.

It's completely unfair. Hilda wasn't the one who destroyed the Triforce, she wasn't even born when the kingdom started to collapse. She suffered just as much with her ancestors' decision. 

It's frustrating, progress could be so much faster if people would stop doubting every single little _ thing _.

"There you are! I have some ideas on the temple you-... why do you have a giant hammer with you?" Hilda asks, blinking.

"The guards listen to me better when I carry a gigantic weapon and use Link's displeased face," he replies amiably, swinging the hammer. He feels a spiteful sense of satisfaction at seeing said guards (traitors who were willing to follow a monster lizard than their princess) wince as he thumps it on the ground.

"... Link's displeased face."

He does said face.

Hilda blinks some more. "Alright, I have to admit, that is intimidating."

"Thank you," he says, going back to his normal face. Link taught him a lot of things besides courage. His grumpy faces were one of them.

It helps that he hasn't slept for two days and was really not in the mood for uncooperative guards.

He'd never hurt the guards anyways, he'd probably injure himself trying. It would be a waste of rupees to repair the hammer and buy healing potions.

Link was right about the castle guards, they’re either cowards or painfully incompetent.

_ “The good ones do their job, they’re the ones that are willing to fight off monsters in a dark stormy night with just a small shield and sword.” Link gave a crooked smile, amused at Ravio’s rant on how the guards treated him today. “But that means they'll protect the people or die trying. Good ones are a rarity for a reason.” _

Ravio thinks of his empty house (too quiet, he prefers his study in the castle). The few books he still has about Lorule Knight Academy, when it still existed. The old knight uniforms in one closet, too big for his frame, too ill-suited for someone like him.

He thinks of the faint memory of a woman wrapping a scarf around him and telling him that they’ll be back soon, and understands.

* * *

Months turn to a year.

People have started warming up around Princess Hilda.

"Technically, you're their queen," Ravio points out. It's a quiet day, and the two are lounging in his study (it's littered with bits and bobs, Hilda maneuvers through it with the experience of growing up with his cluttered mess). "Shouldn't they start calling you Queen Hilda?"

She stares at the balcony, at the clear blue sky and the green fields that now grace Lorule. She stirs her tea idly. "I don't deserve it, not yet."

"Princess-"

"I barely deserve that title either," she snorts, shaking her head. "You always say that you learned a lot from Link."

She takes a sip. 

"I did the same with Zelda, whether I wanted to or not."

It's bitter and oversteeped, but she takes another sip anyways.

"I told her my plans," she says. "Told her how I was going to steal their Triforce and make it ours. I shouldn't have, but I did. Maybe it was arrogance, because I held captive someone who was—who had one of the Triforce."

_ Someone who was me, but better _, is what Ravio hears. Someone who was blessed with the Triforce, who grew and matured with true divine grace. 

He remembers the first time he saw his counterpart, sprawled and unconscious on the floor. The mocking voice that said he didn't look heroic at all. 

"Yeah," he says quietly. "I get it."

"She could still use her powers, not all of it. But I didn't expect her to reply to me in my head," she continues. "She asked a lot of questions you asked, narrated a lot of scenarios you've thought up, she even said that Yuga looked sketchy! Then she went on about his fashion tastes!" She laughs.

Ravio thinks of the words he wrote about Yuga in his journals, not many were flattering either.

"She sounded like you and I hated it," she says, so soft it was almost a whisper. "I told her that, and you know what she said? _ He sounds like a smart man, maybe you should listen to him. _ And goddess, I wanted to burn her portrait there and then."

They could hear a few birds chirping nearby.

He swallows and looks down. "I'm sorry."

"No." She stands up and walks towards him. "No, I should be the one who's sorry. I was a crappy ruler and a crappier friend.”

She holds up a hand when he opens his mouth to protest.

“I'm sorry for calling you a coward when you were the only one who stayed and followed me. I'm sorry for calling you paranoid when you just wanted to think ahead, to be prepared for any possibility."

She looks at him, red eyes fierce and angry. Not at him, not this time. "I'm sorry that I pushed you away. That I didn't listen. That it took an alternate version of me to realize how much of an idiot I was."

"If I confronted you instead of running away, maybe-"

"Maybe what? You were right about Yuga, he would have never changed his mind." She shakes her head. "And you know me, I would have never backed down even if I was beaten up."

Considering she still wanted the Triforce even after Yuga's betrayal, it was pretty accurate.

Still. "It was a cowardly choice."

"It was the smart choice," she refutes. "You brought Link to Lorule, you gave him the tools he needed to defeat Yuga. And while I still don't get why you made Link pay rent-"

"It was for a great fairy, the rupees in Hyrule have more magic in them," he mumbles, burying himself deeper in his scarf. "It's how I got into Hyrule without your help, a great fairy enchanted my bracelet in exchange for rupees. I thought… since Lorule was doomed, the best we could do was move in a better world, like Hyrule."

Hilda stares at him.

His face heats up. "It's pathetic, I know."

"Compared to the convoluted plan of sealing a bunch of sages, finding all the Triforce pieces, and stealing and transferring said pieces in Lorule, yours is so simple and practical that it's genius," she states blankly. "If I ever stop listening to you, I give you full permission to hit me with your hammer—because I'd deserve it."

* * *

It's been a year and a half and he still wonders what the rest of the world is like now.

Lorule looks so different, he keeps saying it over and over again, but it’s just… _ so different _. And for the better. If someone told him years ago that this is his homeland, he'd ask what mushrooms were they munching on.

It makes him curious what’s happening beyond his home.

He's never gone out of Lorule, never saw the point. It would probably be the same doom and gloom. 

But now? When he's seen Hyrule? When he's witnessed how much Lorule has grown? He wants to see, wants to know, wants to experience it himself.

Link had gone to other countries as well, hadn't he? Places like Holodrum and Labrynna. Ravio once asked what he would do after his adventure.

_ "Ride a ship and see where it takes me," he'd shrug. "Haven't done that for a while." _

_ "Huh, that's not a bad idea, buddy! Maybe I should try that out too. What with my retirement and all." _

_ Link snorted. “Just make sure to bring a magic item or two, never know when you’ll need it.” _

_ “Don’t you mean extra rupees?” _

_ “You don’t have that problem, you swindler.” Was the dry reply. “So I’m giving you the next important thing.” _

Maybe in a few years, he will.

* * *

Hilda speeds it up to a few days.

"You're antsy," she tells him, giving him a knapsack, a stone, and a bag of rupees. "You've been antsy for months, you're scaring the servants."

"I do not, the servants love me." He takes the items out of reflex. "Miranda gives me coffee every morning."

"Because you're cranky without that bitter swill."

"It's good!" He says, affronted.

Hilda gives him a look. "So is sleep."

“I sleep!”

“Every other week, sure.”

He can't refute that, but why sleep when there's so much to do? There were buildings that needed reconstruction, and trade to consider now that they have things worth trading, and reestablishing relations with neighboring kingdoms. Lorule still had a long way to go-

Hilda flicks him on the forehead. "You stress over the kingdom more than me and I'm the _ princess _," she huffs. "We have a whole shelf just for your plans. A big shelf. That covers a wall.” 

“It’s just one wall!”

“I live in a castle, one wall is huge."

"... That's not really much!"

"Your handwriting is tiny. It is, in fact, really much." He hears a short peep behind him. "Look, Sheerow agrees."

"Sheerow always agrees with you."

"He's a smart bird."

"You spoil him with apples, he's getting fat." An outraged squawk and a peck on his head for his words of wisdom. "Well, you _ are _."

More affronted peeps and pecks (and laughter) later, he's outside the castle gates, holding the items that Hilda packed for him. A knapsack that's bigger in the inside, a stone that he can use to contact Hilda, and enough rupees to buy three houses in one day.

A vacation, is what Hilda said. He was going on a vacation.

_ "What about Lorule?" _

_ "What am I? Chu jelly?” She raised an eyebrow. “We'll do fine." _

_ "But-" _

_ "You're only one call away." _

_ "Princess-" _

_ "Ravio," she says firmly. "You've done a lot for Lorule, you deserve this. You deserve to explore to your nerdy heart’s content." _

He looks at the stone Hilda gave him. It was blood red, tied with a simple leather cord. A stone of farspeech, something he's only read in books. The knapsack was high quality too, even Link’s bag couldn’t hold this much stuff (really, she packed too much inside it).

She must have gotten all of these in her family's vaults.

"You spoil me too much as well," he huffs, wearing it around his neck. He feels Sheerow rest on his shoulder. "Well, now what?"

Sheerow chirps, diving into his bag (he swears he could hear his chirps echo inside) and pulls out a notebook. 

It's one of his journals, the one he used when he was in Hyrule.

He flips through the pages and sees the last thing he wrote. A list of places he wants to go. All of them from Hyrule (as he'd expected to live there indefinitely once Yuga and Hilda were stopped).

"Well." He closes the notebook. "Hyrule is out of the question, for obvious reasons." The way there is gone now. "But everything in this world is just as good! What do you say, partner?"

Sheerow lets out a happy chirp and flies around him.

He smiles, putting up his hood. 

It’s time to start his adventure.


End file.
